Weird banging noise when braking, advice needed.

[Spoonaltap]

Hey guys, sorry for posting this but I'm starting to get worried about my car and I've nay clue what could be wrong. I've recently replaced pretty much all the suspension on my 306 estate, new wishbones, new droplinks, new driveshafts and loads of other bits and it now handles how it should and passed it's mot but now there is sometimes a bang when braking and sometimes accelaration.


I can't pinpoint where it's coming from but it's like something moves when driving. I had it up on ramps the other day and all the nuts are tight. So I'm not sure what's up, any one have any ideas?

[allye]

Got to be more specific if anyone can help bud.

Is it relative to speed? Under hard acceleration or all the time? One bang or multiple? Under hard braking or random?

Could well be completely unrelated to your suspension work remember.

(Great user name by the way)

[Spoonaltap]

Got to be more specific if anyone can help bud.

Is it relative to speed? Under hard acceleration or all the time? One bang or multiple? Under hard braking or random?

Could well be completely unrelated to your suspension work remember.

(Great user name by the way)

Yeah I'm sorry to be so vague about it, but it is quite random when it does it. Usually does it under semi hard braking, if I brake gently and go super easy on the accelerator then it doesn't seem to do it but I'm only driving it to work and back the now cos I'm worried it's gonna brake. I'm not sure if it's worst when cornering and braking at the same time but I thought it would maybe do it going over bumps and potholes but it seems to be ok with them. I'll need to have another look, it does it at all speeds. Could be slowing down to a stop at slows speeds or braking from a 60 to 30 it does it, it's only one thump at a time. It kind of feels like something is moving, so if I'm braking something gets pushed forward and makes a thump (I'm sure you can feel it through the car more then a sound) and then when you accelerate it pulls it back to make another thump so it just keeps doing that. I thought maybe it was the bottom engine mount and the engine was rocking back and fourth but it looks ok to me. It's just a pain cos it's freezing and usually pissing down so it's a bit shit to actually go outside and try and find the problem. Seems to have started since replacing the suspension components but it didn't handle well at all before I did the work so I'm not sure what it might be.

Also replaced the front shocks for one off a gti-6 that had lowering springs fitted and replaced the top hats but it's only lowered it maybe a cm because it's an xud lump. Front brakes have been replaced with bigger ones too, I think of a 206 gti. New bearing on the front right hub and new bearings on the rear with spax adjustable shock absorbers. Didn't replace the anti rollbar.

I'll try over the next couple of days to have a look at it, hopefully it's simple.

[Piggy]

Check rear axle mounts?
Engine mounts?
Exhaust clearance?

[tigerstyle]

Balljoint or PBush?

Check bolts for them are tight after the install work.

[BashRacing]

check the wheel nut torque

[Xsikid]

Was going to say exhaust, get underneath an have a good poke about

[Spoonaltap]

Exhaust is pretty knackered, only just got through the mot cos the guy put gum gum paste to seal it just to get through mot.

Want to replace the whole lot shortly.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, if it's an ok day tomorrow I'll get it up again and have a look.

[Poodle]

If it's only been noticeable since you did suspension work you've got a 99% chance it's something you've touched. Are you sure the balljoints are the right size for the hubs? There are two different sizes and it sounds like what you've described.

[Spoonaltap]

Mine are the 18mm balljoints even tho my pug is an older PH3, I know this cos the bottom arms I ordered came with 16mm ones which fall out the bottom of the hub even if you have a bolt in it so they're right. Didn't start right away, it's passed it's mot a couple of months ago and started doing this 2 maybe 3 weeks ago but I would say yet it's probably something I've changed.

I've had the cold the last few days so I've not had a proper chance to look at it but I have jacked it up and had a quick look, the engine doesn't rocked when I try to move it and all nuts and bolts are tight. I was hoping I'd see something obvious like a bolt missing. Wheel nuts are tight and there is no movement in wheel when I rock it side to side or top to bottom.

Appreciate everyone's help, if I can't find the issue with it I'll get it into a garage and see if they can find what's wrong with it.

[tigerstyle]

Could be a shredded PBush too, even if new it could have been garbage, or tightened up wrong and quickly eaten itself.

[Spoonaltap]

I'll have a look mate, could be that.

[Spoonaltap]

How are the pbushed supposed to be tightened? Is there a special way you're supposed to fit them. If I'm taking the wishbones off anyway I might as well replace them.

Worthwhile going for the bigger berlingo version or uprated polythene?

[Poodle]

It's the front, round bushes that you can tighten out of position, the p-bushes only sit in one position. Best practice you should jack the hub assembly up until it's fully loaded before tightening the bush bolt, in reality it doesn't make a lot of difference, worth doing if you treasure your handling though.

First things i would be checking for your noise is drop links and arb D bushes. Did you fit high-quality, oem-soec parts, or was it just euros' basic/ebay specials?

[Spoonaltap]

Aye it was cheap tat off ebay/amazon. How's best to check the droplinks and D bushes?

Wheres best to get quality replacement parts, preferably without needing to buy from the dealers?

[Mattcheese31]

Exhaust banging? Top engine mount, could be all sorts really.

[Poodle]

Your local motor factors should be able to supply something half-decent, firstline is my cheap brand of choice.

---

Check them by grabbing hold of the arb and giving it a good shake up and down.

[Spoonaltap]

Will my 1.9 xud have a 17mm rollbar? Worth upgrading to a 21mm antirollbar?

I've ordered new droplinks and just gonna change them but I never replaced the anti rollbar bushes so I'm going to replace them to see if that helps but I'm assuming I'll just have a 17mm rollbar so is it worth upgrading the rollbar?

EDIT: Nevermind seen the thread on the top of the page. I'll try measuring mine just to make sure.

[Poodle]

Stiffer front anti-roll bar without upgrading the rear to match will harm your turn in.

[Spoonaltap]

You guys on here have been great, thanks for all the responses. I'll keep an eye on the forsale section for a hybrid rear arb/bigger arb then.